300 A SPORTING TRIP THROUGH ABYSSINIA chap. 



Fasildas (1632 - 1665), who banished the Portuguese 

 from the country, had the palace called after his name 

 built by Indian masons and such Abyssinians as had 

 been instructed by the Jesuits in architecture, without 

 embracing their religion. Hannes or John I (1665- 

 1680) added several splendid structures, and his son 

 Yasous I., "The Great" (1680- 1704), continued his 

 father's bounty to the town, thus making it the largest 

 city in Habesh. 



In 1736 Yasous II. built and decorated a new palace. 

 When Bruce visited the city in 1770, he gave a de- 

 scription of it, from which I extract the following : — 



Situated on a flat-topped hill, Gondar is surrounded 

 by a deep valley with three outlets. That to the South 

 faces Dembea, Maitsha, and the Agows ; the one to the 

 north-west leads to Sennar, over the high mountain of 

 Debra Tzai, or Mountain of the Sun, at the root of 

 which is Koscam, the Queen's palace, and so to the 

 low country of Walkait. The outlet to the North brings 

 the traveller to Woggora over Mount Lamalmon, and 

 through Tigre to the Red Sea. The river Kahha 

 comes from Debra Tzai and covers all the South of 

 the Town, while the river Angrab, falling from Woggora, 

 surrounds it on the N.N.E. The City contains ten 

 thousand families. 



On the west end of the town is the king's house, formerly a 

 structure of considerable consequence ; it was a square building, 

 flanked with square towers ; it was formerly four storeys high. . . . 

 Great part of this house is now in ruins, having been burnt at different 

 times ; but there is still ample lodging in the two lowest floors of it, 



